Likely helped
- No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
H.R. 402 (119th)Bill Overview
DEBT Act
Economics and Public Finance|Budget deficits and national debtCongressional-executive branch relations
Sponsor
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Jan 14, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageCommittee
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does
<p><b>Debt Explanation Before Taxwriters Act or the DEBT Act</b></p> <p>This bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee before the federal debt limit is reached or extraordinary measures are taken to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations.</p> <p>The term<i> extraordinary measures </i>generally refers to a series of actions that the Department of the Treasury may implement to allow the United States to borrow additional funds without exceeding the debt limit. The measures generally include suspensions or delays of debt sales and suspensions or redemptions of investments in certain government funds.</p> <p>The bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before the committees to provide a detailed explanation of (1) the extraordinary measures that Treasury will take and the administrative costs of taking the measures, and (2) any reversal of such measures and any other changes in the funding of federal government obligations. </p>
Why people may split
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Watch point
The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
<p><b>Debt Explanation Before Taxwriters Act or the DEBT Act</b></p> <p>This bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee before the federal debt limit is reached or extraordinary measures are taken to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations.</p> <p>The term<i> extraordinary measures </i>generally refers to a series of actions that the Department of the Treasury may implement to allow the United States to borrow additional funds without exceeding the debt limit.
The measures generally include suspensions or delays of debt sales and suspensions or redemptions of investments in certain government funds.</p> <p>The bill requires the Secretary of the Treasury to appear before the committees to provide a detailed explanation of (1) the extraordinary measures that Treasury will take and the administrative costs of taking the measures, and (2) any reversal of such measures and any other changes in the funding of federal government obligations. </p>
Passage38/100
This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.
CredibilityPartial
How solid the drafting looks.
Contention62/100
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
02 · What it does
Who stands to gain, and who may push back.
Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened
These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.
Likely burdened
- No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split
Why the argument around this bill splits.
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive—
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Centrist—
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Conservative—
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
04 · Can it pass?
The path through Congress.
Introduced
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Committee
Reached or meaningfully advanced
Floor
Still ahead
President
Still ahead
Law
Still ahead
Passage likelihood38/100
This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.
Why this could stall
- The next hurdle is converting committee movement into a floor coalition.
05 · Recent votes
Recent votes on the bill.
No vote history yet
The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.
06 · Go deeper
Go deeper than the headline read.
Included on this page
The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
This bill has moved beyond introduction, but committee and floor dynamics still determine whether it can build durable support.
Unlocked analysis
Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for DEBT Act.
Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.
Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
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